An Unexpected Phone Call
by HarryPotterTNGfan
Summary: Ian and Barbara Chesterton are relaxing in their twenty-first century home when they get an unexpected phone call from someone they never expected to hear from again.


Ian and Barbara Chesterton sat together on their couch in their early twenty-first century home, a television screen flickering before them. The two looked just like any normal young couple, the one problem being that they were not actually young. In looks, they seemed to be in their mid to late thirties, their hair and clothes updated to fit the times, but on the inside Ian and Barbara were both over eighty years old. They hadn't aged since the 60's. Go figure!

Ian had an arm around his wife, trying very hard to not die of boredom as he always did while they watched one of the reality TV shows that Barbara seemed to like for some ungodly reason, this one a rerun of that year's season finale of _Britain's Next Top Model._ Dosing with his neck bend awkwardly over the back of the couch, he was startled awake when he heard a strange ringing noise.

"Is that the phone?" said Barbara, looking toward the kitchen. "Who would be calling at this hour?" She sighed. "Ian, would you mind getting tha-"

Looking over, Barbara saw that her husband's eyes were closed, head lolling against the couch again. She rolled her eyes, then got up to get it herself. Once she left the room, Ian peeked out of one eye, smiled, then closed it again.

In the kitchen, Barbara headed toward the telephone, but once she got close she realized that the sound wasn't coming from the house phone. Barbara put her hands on her hips. "Where could that ringing be coming from?" she said to herself. She knew it couldn't be her mobile phone, which was upstairs, and Ian had his ringtone set to the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride", not a classic telephone ring. Barbara sighed again and was about to go tell Ian, when she stopped herself.

She looked over at a drawer by the refrigerator. After staring at it for a long moment, the ringing still going, she walked over to it and noticed that the sound was getting louder. Then, she slid open the drawer and rummaged past the things inside until she reached what looked like some sort of strange mobile phone. Barbara had found the source of the ringing.

After a slight hesitation, she flipped open the phone and put it to her ear. With bated breath, she said, "...Hello?"

"Um, hi," came a voice on the other end, a man's. "Good evening. Or is it not evening for you? Sorry. Not sure how the time difference thing works when talking on a phone in a time machine."

"May I ask who is speaking?" While she remained polite, Barbara felt disappointed. She had expected to hear a different voice. A familiar voice.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. This is, um, Rory. Rory Williams."

Barbara raised her eyebrows. From the other room, Ian called, "Dear, who is it?"

"How did you get this number, Mr. Williams?"

"Well, you see, I have this phone that the Doctor gave me, and I was looking through the contacts. The second one on here after Amy - oh, that's my girlfriend - was someone called Barbara, and I decided to call it...Is this her?"

Barbara didn't answer Rory's question. In fact, she hadn't even heard it. She had stopped listening altogether after the word "Doctor". Her heartbeat quickening, she said, "You know the Doctor? Is he there?"

"Yes. Well, no. Not in the room. He's in the console room...Do you want me to bring you to him?"

"Yes, please," said Barbara, gripping the phone tightly. She waved to Ian silently from the kitchen, trying to get his attention, but he had his eyes closed again.

"Hold on, then." Barbara could hear Rory walking out of a room. In the background a few moments later, she could hear another person's voice, which sounded like a young man's, talking. From what she could make out, he was speaking to another person, saying, "...and that, Amelia, is why there is a rule against cherry kool aid in this TARDIS. Perhaps it's only Alzarians that get hopped up on the stuff, but I am not about to take a chance with you humans. Not after last time..."

"That was a very interesting story, Doctor," came another voice, a female's, which got louder as the phone got closer, "but I think we got a bit off track from my original question."

"What was that again?"

"What's up?"

"Doctor," came Rory's voice. "There's someone on the phone for you."

"What?" came the other man's voice. "Who would be calling me in the middle of deep space?"

"Well, technically, I called her, but she wanted to speak to you. Her name's Barbara."

There was a silence. Then, in a soft voice, "Barbara Wright?"

"I dunno. It just said 'Barbara' in the contact list."

Another silence. Then, Barbara heard muffled noises as the phone was handed over and someone put it to his ear. Then, in voice that told Barbara that the speaker was grinning, the man said, "Good evening, Barbara Wright! Or should I say Barbara Chesterton? Or, should I say good morning? The time of day doesn't matter very much when one is millions of miles away from anything that has natural daylight."

Barbar was a bit taken aback. "I'm sorry. With whom am I speaking?"

"Right, you wouldn't recognize the new voice. Why would you, you haven't even heard the old one since...what would it be, nearly fifty years for you? I'm surprised I even recognized the name, it's been over nine hundred years since I've heard it! But how could I ever forget the lovely Barbara!"

Barbara was completely lost. "Who is this?"

"It's the Doctor."

Barbara couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sorry?"

"Yep, it's me! Sound a bit different, look a lot different, too, but it's still me, in the flesh! Or, shall I say, in the phone."

"But...you can't be the Doctor! You sound so young!"

"Might I say the same for you, my dear. How old should you be? Eighty four? Eighty five? It sounds like you haven't aged a day since we met." There was a pause, during which Barbara could almost hear the man grinning through the phone.

Barbara ignored his comment. "But how can that possibly be you- him," she corrected herself. "The Doctor is old, at least eighty himself! Older since the last time we've met! Why, I'd be surprised if he was still alive." It occurred to her for the first time that it was more than likely that the Doctor _was _in fact dead. She didn't understand the details of time travel and just figured that the Doctor aged as she did (or was supposed to). Her heart sank.

"Barbara," said the man on the other side of the phone softly. "Do you remember a couple of weeks before you and Ian returned home? I gave you a small metal communicator, and I told you that if you ever got lost, or if after you had gone back home you ever needed me, you only had to dial this number, and I would answer? And then I told you that I had never thought that I would ever enjoy the company of a human so much, and that I was happy that you found the TARDIS in that junkyard all that time ago. I told you that you changed my opinion of your species for the better, and that my life would never be the same because of it."

Barbara's mouth gaped open, and she said, "It is you. How else would you have known?"

"I was right, Barbara," the Doctor continued. "You and Ian were my first human companions. The beginning of so many to come. And you were one of the best, you know, both of you. It's good to hear from you."

"Doctor?" Barbar gripped the phone tightly, smiling.

"Yes. A new face, but still the same old me."

From the living room, Ian called, "Barbara, who is it?" She jumped, startled out of the little world she had entered when she had picked up the phone.

"Is that Ian I hear?" the Doctor asked.

"Er, yes it is. Do you want to speak with him?"

"No, I won't keep you. Besides, universal airtime cost a lot more than you'd think!"

Barbara laughed. "Alright, Doctor, but before you go, how are you? You've obviously got some new friends."

"Yes! I see you've met Rory already." Then, turning away from the phone, he said, "Rory, is it really that boring for you on an alien spaceship that can travel anywhere in time and space that you decide to sit on your bed scrolling through the contacts list on your phone?"

"Did I hear a girl too? You called her Amelia."

"Yes! Rory and Amelia Pond!"

"For the last time, Doctor!" came Rory from the background. "It's Rory and Amelia _Williams_! It doesn't work the other way."

"Don't be rude, Rory!" the Doctor snapped. "I'm on the phone over here!"

Barbara laughed again. "What about the old crew? How is Susan? Is she still on Earth with David? Why, she must be at least sixty five by now!"

For a moment, there was a silence, then the Doctor cleared his throat and said, "Yes...she must be at least that."

When he did not say any more, Barbara changed the subject. "And Vicky? I suppose she went back to her time on Earth?"

"No, she's having her own adventure in Troy as Cressida."

Barbara's eyes widened. "The Trojan woman?"

"That's the one."

"Wow. She became a ancient Trojan legend and here Ian and I are eating crisps on our couch and watching _Britain's Next Top Model_."

"No way! What season is it?"

"Six. It's the finale."

"Oh, not that one! I cried, myself. Don't go missing Tiffany's big win on my account!"

"Doctor!"

"Right. Spoiler! My bad. Now go! You're missing it!"

"What?"

"Right now. Hang up. Go!"

"Um, okay. Good-bye, Doctor." Barbara took the phone from her ear uncertainly, but before she could hang up, she heard "Barbara, wait!" and put the phone back up to it. "Yes?"

"It was good to hear from you."

Barbara smiled. "And you, Doctor. Thank Rory for finding my number for me."

"You're welcome!" said Rory into the phone suddenly, as if he and Amelia had been listening in the whole time.

"Now go!" snapped the Doctor again. "You're about to miss the vote count!"

"Alright, Doctor," laughed Barbara. "Good-bye."

"Good-bye," said the Doctor.

"Bye," came Rory.

"Bye now!' added Amelia.

Barbara hung up and replaced the phone back in the drawer before returning to the living room. Ian was still sitting on the couch, rubbing his eyes. "Who on Earth was that at this hour?"

"It was, um," began Barbara, sitting down next to him. "It was my doctor." Not a total lie, but not exactly the truth either. She didn't know why she didn't just tell Ian the truth. He knew and probably missed the Doctor, too. Maybe it was because she didn't want to disrupt things. Life had been simple and normal since they'd left the Doctor (besides the fact that they hadn't gotten older since then), but it had also been nice without constantly having to watch their backs in fear of an alien foe trying to capture, or worse, kill them. She didn't want to upset their life together now by bringing up old memories on the TARDIS, despite the fact that they were the best times of their lives. Still, telling Ian the truth about the phone call would not change the fact that they would still be here in their living room on Earth without an alien in a spaceship to say "Barbara! Chesterton! Get off that sofa and come help me with this space thingamajig that I found! No I will not tell you what it does! Just come carry it for me!" It was better to leave it alone and continue life the way it was.

"Your doctor? Really?" said Ian. "Is there something the matter? Why would he be calling this late?"

"Don't worry. It's nothing urgent. He just wanted to remind me of my appointment next week."

For a moment, Ian looked skeptical, then he nodded and said, "Alright then." Turning back to the TV, he sighed. "Dear, I'm sorry, but is this almost over?"

"Calm down. I think that the votes are almost counted."

"Good," said Ian, then added quickly, "not that I don't enjoy watching it with you..."

"It's alright, dear," said Barbara. After a moment, she smiled and said, "How about we make this a little more interesting?"

"How so?"

"A bet."

Ian grinned. "Okay, what's the bet?"

"I bet you that Tiffany will win over Alisha."

Ian looked at the television, racking his brain to remember how each of the two girls did on the runway. "What's the wager?"

"Loser has to grade the winner's students essays for a week."

"Alright, you're on." Ian held out his hand to shake Barbara's. "May the best _man_ win!"

"Good luck," said Barbara, and the two of them turned back to the television. Ian, for once, waited with bated breath as the votes were counted. Barbara, however, remained relaxed in her chair, knowing that the odds were on her side.


End file.
